When I started this journey nearly three years ago Ethiopia wasn’t on my list of countries. And I’m not sure why. But I’m more than pleasantly surprised. And happy. It’s hard to express. This feeling I’ve got about Ethiopia. Beyond the images of malnourished children, the stories told by Bob Geldof or the warnings of […]
What was supposed to be an early start for the Ethiopian border crossing now was looking to be a mid-afternoon departure. First things first. I had to get the bike unloaded from the lorry. My preference was to unload it somewhere away from the hustle and bustle of this Kenya border town. Getting both the […]
With the rain pelting the windshield and the windshield wipers offered additional percussion to the Kenyan music blasting distortedly through the trucks sole speaker I knew I was in for a long ride. I didn’t have much information either. Sitting in a cab with my driver Abdulah and Sofia, a young 14 year old girl […]
Concerned about the road that goes from Nairobi north through Marsabit into Ethiopia, I’d been warned by Chris and others that the route is perhaps the rockiest and most incessant display of corrugation this side of Latin America. Glenn Heggsted, the legendary Norwegian-American who traveled around the world on the same bike a few years […]
Just outside of the city center tucked behind a tall black gate inscribed with the initials J.J. is an overlander oasis run by German ex-pat Christof. With a large greenbelt ideal of camping and parking overland Land Cruiser, Land Rovers and motorcycles, Jungle Junction also sports a guest house with several rooms, some with private […]
First it was the Ugandans who wanted to be sure their flag was represented on the WorldRider machine. Later the Kenyans added their flag but wanted a few shillings – I traded a WorldRider Sticker! It was the Ides of March that he was forewarned, the day Caesar was assisinated by the “liberators” in an […]
With the sprawl and dusty of Kampala fading in my rearview I navigate Doc around bicycles, pedestrians, cows, donkeys, trucks, and throat-clogging and eye-burning puffs of diesel smoke until coming to the bridge that crosses the Mighty Nile where the mighty river sources its water and Lake Victoria. I’ve made it from the bottom to […]
The Uganda capital is a bustling, dusty and noisy traffic jam of taxis, mini-busses and lines of nondescript shops touting electronics, cameras, clothing, souvenirs and more. And I can’t forget the motorcycle taxis – these dangerous, helmetless kamikazes that sometimes pile 3 or 4 people to a small chinese motorcycle. In Kampala, my residence for […]
After a tranquil stay on Lake Bunyonyi I made my way to the Uganda capital, Kampala, crossing the equator for the second time during my journey. But unlike Ecuador’s equatorial monument, the Ugandan version was more modest — and more interesting. Here at the equator in Uganda there were three large funnels which emptied into […]
Paint is expensive. Construction takes time. Materials are hard to come by. Roads are bad. Trucks are slow and most deteriorating and bad on fuel economy and even worse for the environment. Some towns, rather most towns in Africa look like they were started witha good idea but then left to the whim of some […]
